A thunderous cracked rang as the crack in the sky spread wider.
It sent shockwaves rippling through the air, riling up the wind and lting the clouds away.
Beyond, separated by a thin veil of dinsional fabric like the wall of a womb, were countless monsters trying to push through and ransack the world. Dragons, demonic winged creatures, and even monsters bound by chains that were picked up from the darkest corner of the world on the other side, clawed at the veil relentlessly.
Each vie to be the first one to enter.
Around it, the powerful Hybrids from the Hybrid Association and the neighbouring city sweated.
All of them were taking care of the flaming debris, protecting the city below with all they had.
One flew across the horizon and hacked multiple flaming orbs, while another created a massive shield of ether to hold back the debris that only kept on increasing in numbers as the purple dungeon neared its maturity and broke through the veil.
Not only that, the streets sward with groups of Hybrids, locating the Proselytes.
Though killing them wouldn't close down the dungeon, it would buy a lot of ti.
Just seeing through the veil alone, the Hybrids here wouldn't be able to take care of the Crossers.
A lot of reinforcents are needed, and ti is the ultimate currency.
But at the back of their minds, the Hybrids who were currently here at this mont, all of them accepted that this would be their grave. All they could do now was hold these Crossers back until the main army of the Light World from the main Hybrid Association ca.
Since the purple dungeon ca out of nowhere, it'll take so ti for them to arrive.
Perhaps, they weren't even planning to rescue the city, focusing more on the cities around Sunhold City.
Either way, all they could do was to fight.
An apocalyptic phenonon that burned the sky violet, luminous stain spreading across the heavens as if the Gods themselves had slit the firmant and the let the void bleed through. A chorus of terror, raw and unrelenting, rising from every corner of the city. Buildings groaned under the weight of the unseen power; glass shattered, tal twisted, and the air itself trembled with the weight of doom.
Yet, even in the teeth of chaos, there was always one who saw differently.
Where others saw ruin, they saw restoration.
Where minds fractured under fear, theirs found beauty in the madness.
For in the cracks of the collapsing world, there would always be soone who found the subli.
One could always find a situation beautiful.
Ciri was the one who was enthralled by the mont, smiling, unfearful of death.
It was exactly as she had pictured.
Upon Caldaros accepting the power of Sunna and becoming her avatar, Ciri has thought of the worst so many tis. She knew that accepting such a great power would co at a cost—a cost that could only be paid by blood.
Caldaros' death has skimd past her mind on multiple occasions.
And this mont, the death of an avatar, is exactly as she pictured—catastrophic.
But there was one deviation from her imagination.
If anyone told her that she would be taking in such a breathtaking sight with Lucivar beside her a week ago, she would've laughed and found that to be ridiculous. Now, here she was—sitting beside him, the man who killed Caldaros, on the stage where she usually perford.
For so reason, she doesn't feel angry, bitter, or vengeful at all.
She weirdly felt at peace.
Almost as if she could now be certain that the world she was seeing is true, not fake.
Unconsciously, a small chuckle escaped her lips.
Lucivar turned towards her, raising one of his brows.
"What are you chuckling about?"
"I rembered sothing soone told ."
"…?"
Since they have ti anyway, Lucivar tilted his head, gesturing for her to tell her story.
Ciri didn't even hesitate.
It wouldn't matter anyway at this point.
She paused for a mont, searching her mory, then began to recount it.
"Before Caldaros beca an avatar, about a year ago, I saw this man, a bit older than , who was blind on one side. I was sitting in a park when he approached . He's wearing expensive clothes, so I wasn't really alerted."
"He was charming. And the way he spoke… he made feel like the center of the world. Then, before he leaves, he told that he's a seer. He took my hand and read my palm, saying that Caldaros would rise in the world, but the mont of his death would be the happiest I'll ever be."
A frown ford on Lucivar's face when he heard that.
He doesn't know about her, but for him, the man sounded very suspicious.
"How did he even know Caldaros if you didn't recognize him?"
"I'm also confused. But he left before I could even say anything, and never saw him again. Anyway, at that ti, if he really was a real seer, I thought Caldaros would do sothing incredible before his death. How wrong was I…?"
Ciri shook her head, chuckling inwardly, ridiculing her past self.
She thought the best, but in reality, Caldaros died after being exposed as a hypocrite.
Lucivar paused for a mont.
His guts were warning him about this.
"Did, did the man say anything else to you?"
"No, not really. Why? Oh wait, he did say that I should support Caldaros to be stronger."
"Huh… Is that so?"
Upon hearing this, Lucivar averted his gaze, contemplating what she said.
'A bit older and blind in one eye, so this man must look like Tobias. A seer? Is this a coincidence?'
For soone who has the ability to see into the future like that, it must have been soone strong and influential, so coming to talk with Ciri wasn't random. It does not have to do with anything with him, but he sohow felt uneasy.
It feels like the answer was already at the tip of his tongue, but he couldn't quite get to it.
Swish!
Just then, a swirling sunlight could be seen outside the park.
From the direction it was coming from, Ciri reckoned that it ca from Caldaros' corpse.
She turned to Lucivar with both brows raised, "Is this what you wanted to see?"
"Yes," Lucivar nodded with a smile.
He stood up and gazed at the swirling sunlight, his back facing Ciri.
"I'm sure you're curious as to what could possibly force everyone, including the Gods, to be evil so that they could retain their power," Lucivar said, gazing at the swirl of sunlight that was growing thicker and faster by the second. "The answer is… karma. It's broken."
"Karma? What do you an?" Ciri tilted her head.
She didn't know what to expect, but this still surprised her.
Lucivar turned around, his form silhouetted by the radiant sunlight behind him.
"Good karma grants fortune and bad karma grants misfortune, but now, sohow, it was reversed. Now, beings with bad karma are fortunate, which was the reason why even Sunna, the Goddess who was on the good side, was also evil."
"Once you collect enough bad karma, good things will happen…"
As he said that, Lucivar pointed over his shoulder with his thumb.
It was then that Ciri bore witness to an incredibly spectacular sight, the sunlight swirling from Caldaros' corpse surged into brilliance, condensing into a blinding pillar of divine energy. The radiant beam shot skyward, golden and imnse, spiraling as it tore through the heavens—and pierced the clouds like a spear.
Everyone saw this spectacle.
Even the Hybrids circling above veered off-course, instinctively scattering from its path.
Soon, the divine beam struck the sky with the force of a Goddess' hamr, slamming into the heart of the gaping purple dungeon above. The impact reverberated like a celestial drumbeat, shaking the entire sky and tearing sound from the world.
In the next breath, the beam unraveled.
Its golden light erupted outward in brilliant waves of holiness.
Sparks of golden divine energy danced like lightning across the surface of the portal, the veil.
Until eventually, it detonated.
Kaboom!
Ciri's eyes widened as she saw that the sky was covered in the explosion.
Blinding light engulfed everything, swallowing clouds, shadows, and sound alike.
From the dying portal ca a sudden, violent pull—a monstrous suction that only dragged in shattered debris and the shrieking souls of the hidden proselytes hiding in the city, ripping them from their shelters like dust before a storm.
Then, with a final convulsion, the portal collapsed on itself.
All of the Crossers, along with their Primordial masters beyond the veil, disappeared in an instant.
Ciri was completely stunned as the world, which was about to end monts ago, suddenly returned to its original condition as if the purple dungeon had never appeared in the first place. Had it not been for the devastation around them, the purple dungeon might as well be a product of the imagination.
"How is this possible…?" She rasped in absolute shock.
It was incredible.
A powerful dungeon that could pose a threat to the entire Light World was able to be shut down in a matter of seconds. Earlier, Ciri did wonder what Lucivar's plan was, with the opening dungeon right above him.
Fighting Caldaros right now seed to be a suicide.
Even if he won, what would he do when the purple dungeon matured and the Crossers crossed?
Not to ntion, his friends were also here.
And from what Ciri heard earlier, Ravenna was told by Lucivar to find her.
Clearly, Lucivar was not afraid of the purple dungeon.
He either has a plan for it or he simply didn't care, wanting nothing more than to kill Caldaros.
But the answer was even more surprising.
"My life is hell before I beca an avatar," Lucivar said, drawing Ciri's attention back to his gleaming golden eyes. "Once I did and started doing bad things, miraculously, everything went my way. That's when I realized karma is broken. Sothing happened and changed it. And … my goal is to fix it."
"All the bad things I did, they accumulated, and now, thousands of people are saved." He added.
A mischievous grin crossed his face.
Ciri's eyes widened in revelation.
She now really understood.
Her eyes were opened to the hard truth of reality, which proved clearly that Lucivar was right.
Karma is broken, and he was exploiting it to his advantage.
'So, the people he massacred in the night market… those innocent people, all of them weren't dead for nothing. Lucivar harvested bad karma through them to make himself stronger, but it also created fortune to make sothing magical like this happen,' Ciri thought, her eyes glassy. "Incredible…"
Noticing that Ciri finally gets it, Lucivar spread his arms as if he had achieved triumph for the first ti.
"You see? My dark impulses are for the betternt of many. My evil… It's the kindest evil."
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